The United Nations was set up by the winners
of the Second World War. Like the League of Nations after the First World War
it was intended to ensure an end to war. The UN faced many challenges in the
following years, such as conflicts in Korea and the Congo.

How successful was the United Nations in the
Korean and Congo crises?

When the United Nations was founded in 1945
its members signed a document, known as the Charter of the United Nations, that
set out the aims and principles of the organization.

The United Nations and the Cold War

How would the UN ensure world peace in the way
described by Source A? How would it avoid repeating the failures of the League
of Nations? The founders of the UN hoped that it would be an effective force
for peace because it would be led by the same powerful countries that had been
able to unite and destroy Hitler.

The League of Nations had been fatally
weakened by the absence of the USA and other powerful countries. The UN did not
have this problem. Its membership included the most powerful countries in the
world: the USA, the USSR and Britain. The American President, Roosevelt, hoped
that these three states could act together in leading the United Nations, just
as they fought together against Hitler.

The organization of the United Nations
reflected the fact that the wartime allies intended to work together to impose
peace on the world. Under their joint leadership, the UN was intended to be a
'policeman' for all of humanity. The Security Council had a special
responsibility for international peace. It was controlled by its permanent
members, which included the wartime allies.

The UN Charter described how the Security
Council could try to stop countries from attacking other states. It could order
trade sanctions member states would stop selling goods to any aggressive
country. If sanctions failed, the Security Council could order military action
by United Nations forces. A Military Staff Committee was set up to control any
United Nations force and it had members from each of the five permanent
member-states.

The plans of the wartime leaders - Roosevelt,
Stalin and Churchill - did not work out very well in practice. The organization
of the United Nations was based on the assumption that the most powerful countries
would continue to co-operate after the war but this did not happen. The Cold
War soon developed and the two superpowers, the USA and the USSR, became
extremely hostile towards each other.

The Cold War disrupted the work of the
Security Council. The Americans and the Soviets constantly disagreed and this
stopped the Security Council from acting effectively to stamp out wars.
American proposals were consistently vetoed by the Soviet Union; Soviet
suggestions were blocked by the American veto. The result was deadlock. In both
the Korean and the Congo crises the work of the UN was influenced and distorted
by superpower rivalry.